Summary Quality is a basic issue for workers, both as producers and consumers. As producers, quality has been a point of conflict in the process of bargaining over wages and working conditions. However, it is also important for workers as they continually seek to find meaning in their working lives and pride in their work. As in their role as consumers, workers are concerned to obtain value for money. In Brazil, the pursuit of quality has taken on an ideological character. Workers are not given the means to produce good quality products, and quality programmes focus on short‐term motivation rather than long‐term shifts in human resource policies. Basic issues, such as stability of employment and decent wages, are not given due weight. Quality programmes should concentrate less on cost reduction and more on improving quality of products for consumers and the quality of life for workers.